This invention relates to the protective covering of sheets of metal, plastic and the like, and more particularly to means whereby flocked coverings may be applied economically to flexible films to render them controllably pliant and distensible.
The above-identified patent discloses a protective covering comprising a filmlike adhesive layer with a flocked backfacing, adapted to being rolled upon itself without an interliner, unwound from the roll and applied to elongate strips of metal which thence may be coiled and later unwound and segmented, requiring ideally that the protective covering be capable of linear enlargement and/or reduction to permit changes in curvature of the surface-protected metal sheet without jeopardy, e.g., buckling, severing or excessive creep of the protective covering as often occurs when relatively non-pliant and non-distensible coverings are used. Although creped coverings could be circumvent this deficiency, they are seldom used in the application described due to increased cost and a tendency to image the surface pattern of the adhesive onto the metal sheet.